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Hamas Chief on Israel’s Decline
Khaled Meshal talks to CounterPunch about Israel’s terrorism, Hamas’rockets and what Hamas will settle for. ALSO: What’s the body count from neoliberal terrorism in India? The largest wave of suicides in human history. India’s best journalist, P. Sainath, lays out the awful story. How did Harvard Law School behave in the McCarthy witch hunts? With sickening cowardice. Famed attorney Jonathan Lubell describes how the School tried to force him to testify and how the Harvard Law Review slammed the door in his face. What causes autism? Steven Higgs tracks the chemicals that may cause developmental disabilities. Alexander Cockburn honors one of England’s greatest environmental writers, the late Roger Deakin. Get your Legacy Edition today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great presents.
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Today's Stories January 7, 2009 Saree Makdisi January 6, 2009 Pam Martens Victoria Buch Neve Gordon Tami Sarfatti / Mike Whitney Alan Farago Gary Leupp Larry Everest Ron Jacobs David Macaray Stephanie Basile Stacey Warde Website of the Day January 5, 2009 Paul Craig Roberts Sousan Hammad Wajahat Ali Mats Svensson Jen Marlowe Muhammad Ali Khalidi Brian Cloughley Faheem Hussain William Cook Dr. Trudy Bond Christopher Ketcham Steve Early Dave Lindorff Website of the Day January 2 - 4, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Uri Avnery Jonathan Cook Paul Craig Roberts Brian Eno Ralph Nader Omar Barghouti Graham Usher P. Sainath Belén Fernández Deb Reich Gary Leupp Michael Yates Joanne Mariner Seth Sandronsky Cynthia McKinney Sonja Karkar Deepak Tripathi Robert Fantina John Ross Norm Kent Larry Portis Richard Rhames Dee C. Lubell David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Marc Catone Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
January 1, 2008 Jennifer Loewenstein Oren Ben-Dor Wajahat Ali Saul Landau David Michael Green Website of the Day December 31, 2008 Pam Martens Neve Gordon / Ted Honderich Brian Cloughley Ron Jacobs Vijay Prashad Franklin Lamb Mike Whitney David Macaray Richard Thieme Mary Lynn Cramer Stephen Lendman Worthy Group of the Day December 30, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Tariq Ali Robert Bryce Jonathan Cook Gary Leupp Dave Lindorff Brian McKenna John Walsh Ramzy Baroud Bob Sommer Worthy Activist of the Day
December 29, 2008 Jennifer Loewenstein Neve Gordon Joshua Frank George Salzman / Norman Solomon Ewa Jasiewicz Rob Larson Kenneth Libby Robert Weissman Elsa Johnson Nicola Nasser Belén Fernández Worthy Group of the Day December 26-28, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Dr Eyad Al Serraj Jeffrey St. Clair Bradley Simpson Ralph Nader Gary Leupp Ellen Cantarow Matt Landon David Macaray Patrick Bond Norm Kent Brian T. Ketcham Rannie Amiri Larry Portis Richard Rhames Stephen Lendman James L. Secor Ramzy Baroud Harold Pinter Cpt. Paul Watson Howard Lisnoff Michael Dee Steve Conn Poets' Basement Worthy Group of the Weekend December 25, 2008 Judy Gumbo Albert Rev. William E. Alberts Hannah Mermelstein Worthy Group of the Day December 24, 2008 Bill Quigley Saul Landau Sam Smith Brian Cloughley John Ross Eric Walberg Norm Kent Stephen Martin Worthy Group of the Day December 23, 2008 Michael Hudson Michael Yates Chuck Spinney Vijay Prashad Brian Horejsi David Macaray Neil Watkins / David Michael Green Worthy Group of the Day December 22, 2008 Pam Martens Gary Leupp Mike Whitney Karl Grossman Niall Meehan Steve Conn Uri Avnery Corey D. B. Walker David Swanson Worthy Group of the Day December 19 - 21, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Paul Craig Roberts Patrick Cockburn Felice Pace Diane Farsetta George Ciccariello-Maher Eric Bergoust Marjorie Cohn Stan Cox Michael Donnelly Robert Weissman Ralph Nader Alan Farago Sam Smith Timothy G. Hermach Seth Sandronsky Rannie Amiri David Yearsley Martha Rosenberg Dave Lindorff Christopher Brauchli Missy Beattie Richard Rhames Stephen Martin Paul Krassner Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Worthy Group of the Weekend December 18, 2008 Phillip Doe Ronnie Cummins Jesse Sharkey Saul Landau Peter Morici Dave Lindorff Panos Petrou Jeff Cohen / Worthy Group of the Day December 17, 2008 Peter Lee Conn Hallinan Mike Whitney Jeff Halper Alan Farago Peter Morici Norm Kent Col. Douglas MacGregor Margaret Kimberley Ron Jacobs Worthy Group of the Day December 16, 2008 Vicente Navarro Patrick Cockburn Thomas Michael Power Jason Hribal Farzana Versey Wajahat Ali / Mats Svensson Paul Fitzgerald / David Macaray Howard Lisnoff Worthy Group of the Day December 15, 2008 Andy Worthington Franklin Lamb Karl Grossman Brian Cloughley Mary Lynn Cramer Steve Early Thomas Christie Ken Paff Niranjan Ramakrishnan Dave Lindorff Alan Farago Worthy Group of the Day December 12 / 14, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Michael Hudson / David Price Jeffrey St. Clair Frank Barat John Ross Binoy Kampmark David Macaray Ralph Nader Eamonn Fingleton Lawrence Velvel Behzad Yaghmaian Sam Husseini Tom Barry Howard Lisnoff Laura Carlsen Raj Patel Ron Jacobs Paul Watson David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Kim Nicolini Susie Day Poets' Basement Worthy Group of the Weekend December 11, 2008 Patrick Cockburn P. Sainath Vicken Cheterian Ray McGovern Dedrick Muhammad Lee Sustar Peter Morici Ayesha Ijaz Khan George Wuerthner Christopher Brauchli Worthy Group of the Day December 10, 2008 Ismael Hossein-Zadeh Mary Lynn Cramer Manuel Garcia, Jr. Joshua Frank Steve Conn Lee Sustar Glen Ford Stephen Lendman Nadia Hijab Dave Lindorff Website of the Day December 9, 2008 Mike Whitney Fawzia Afzal-Khan Ghada Karmi Dave Lindorff Steve Breyman Lee Sustar / Rev. William E. Alberts Martha Rosenberg Sam Husseini David Macaray Website of the Day December 8, 2008 Steve Early Michael Hudson Patrick Cockburn Diane Farsetta Paul Craig Roberts Daniel Gross Saul Landau Harvey Wasserman Mike Ferner Norman Solomon David Michael Green Website of the Day
December 5 / 7, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Brian Cloughley Paul Craig Roberts Liaquat Ali Khan Farzana Versey Peter Lee Peter Morici Ralph Nader / Yinon Cohen / Wajahat Ali Johnny Barber Alan Farago Jeremy Scahill Mike Whitney Ranjit Hoskote Carl Finamore Marjorie Cohn Norm Kent Missy Beattie Binoy Kampmark David Macaray Nancy Stohlman Ron Jacobs David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend December 4, 2008 Ece Temelkuran Ralph Nader Harry Browne Eamonn Fingleton Conn Hallinan Mike Whitney Stewart J. Lawrence Paul Fitzgerald / Karyn Strickler Jennifer Matsui Website of the Day December 3, 2008 Andrew Cockburn Sheldon Rampton Robert Weissman Yifat Susskind William Blum Alan Singer David Macaray Martha Rosenberg Mats Svensson Website of the Day December 2, 2008 Jeremy Scahill Paul Craig Roberts Ayesha Ijaz Khan Sarah Anderson / William Blum John Ross Dave Lindorff Nicola Nasser Steve Conn Robert Bryce Website of the Day December 1, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Damien Millet / Vijay Prashad Deepak Tripathi Joshua Frank P. Sainath Alan Farago Binoy Kampmark Chris Genovali David Michael Green Stephen Martin Website of the Day November 28-30, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Mike Whitney Ted Honderich Tom Kerr Mike Ely David Yearsley Deepak Tripathi Sonja Karkar Ramzy Baroud Robert Weitzel Robert Roth Carlos Fierro David Macaray David Rosen James Cockcroft Stan Cox Steve Conn Stephen Martin Richard Rhames Kim Nicolini Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement
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January 7, 2009 Is Fatah Doomed?What is New About Gaza?By LAWRENCE DAVIDSON Ever since Israel's withdrawal of its settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005 it has slowly turned that territory into a besieged ghetto. All land, sea and air access in and out of Gaza was and is controlled and the amount of supplies in and out have been reduced over time. In this process the governments of the United States and Egypt cooperated. Washington commenced a financial stranglehold on the Hamas controlled territory and Egypt sealed up Gaza's Western border. In addition, by their silence, the European Union and many Middle Eastern countries also showed that they would cause no trouble for Israel on account of their actions in Gaza. This is probably the case because first, the leaders of these countries, whether democratic or authoritarian, are members of a political elite who value their relationship with the United States and Israel more than the lives of the Gazans. These leaders have no stomach for upholding international law or pointing fingers at Israel even when it commits crimes against humanity. And second, the majority of citizens of these lands (even the Arab ones) do not know enough or care enough about Gaza's fate to rise up and demand a change in their government's policies. In the case of the United Nations there has also been silence from the Security Council (whose members follow the lead of their basically pro-Zionist governments) and from the organization's timid Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. Only the president of the General Assembly, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, and the Special Rapporteur for Occupied Palestine, Richard Falk (an American Jewish academic), have had the courage to speak out. But, of course, these brave souls have no authority over UN policy. In the face of this situation the resistance groups of Gaza had only their home made missiles to fight back offensively. These were not, of course, a very effective weapons. Confined to a ghetto and abandoned by most of the world, the democratically elected government headed by Hamas negotiated a hudna or truce with Israel through the auspices of the Egyptian government. This truce brought a fragile quiet to Gaza and southern Israel for six months but did not relieve the pressure on Gaza's borders or promise any real betterment in the lives of the people of the Gaza Strip. Then, in September 2008 a meeting took place outside of Ramallah between the West Bank militia leaders of Fatah and Israeli military commanders. According to reports in the Israeli paper Ydiot Ahronot the meeting was to arrange for the deployment of more Fattah policemen in the city of Jenin. But it went further and included reaching a common agreement on the destruction of Hamas prior to the end of Abu Mazen's presidential term of office on January 9th. The Fatah militia leaders described Hamas as a common enemy of both Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The two would now work together to destroy this enemy. Israel would destroy Hamas in Gaza and Fattah would assist in its destruction on the West Bank. Shortly thereafter Israel purposely broke the truce by crossing the Gaza border on the pretext of destroying a tunnel which they said was to be used to kidnap Israeli soldiers. The application of common sense demonstrates that this was not a believable tale. The tunnel certainly existed, but it did not cross the border into Israel. The Israelis, obviously knowing about the tunnel, could have simply waited to see if the tunnel came into Israeli territory and then destroy it. If this happened the Israelis would have a strong case for their actions and the truce would most likely survive action against Hamas within Israel. But there was no proof that Hamas was intent on using the tunnel to attack Israeli troops as long as there was a truce. Israel knew that Hamas would retaliate for its attack on the tunnel within Gaza territory. And the chances of the truce crumbling in the face of Israeli aggression on top of a tightening of the borders that had by that time produced widespread malnutrition was predictably high. This scenario was produced by Israel so as to give them an excuse to fulfill the plan originally discussed with the Fatah militia back in September. The massive airstrikes we now witness are but the beginning of this plan to destroy Hamas. More air strikes will probably follow and culminate in a full military invasion of the Gaza Strip. Thousands of Palestinians will die in this operation along with hundreds of Israelis. The Israelis can also expect a renewal of suicide attacks in their cities. The present structure of Hamas in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank will suffer great damage. Its ability to do its charitable work and carry on resistence may well cease in the short run. But then they will rebuild and within a number of years appear again to serve the needs of their people and renew resistence against the Zionist enemy. In this story there is only one really new aspect. It is not Israeli duplicity, for modern Israeli leaders have regularly broken their word, whether given orally or in writing, ever since the first Camp David efforts of 1978. It is not the use of tactics that combined the behaviors of both progroms and concentration camps. For Israel had been concentrating, impoverishing, and brutalizing Palestinians both as individuals and as a group for decades. Indeed, the world needs a new word to describe the behavior of Israelis toward Palestinians—a word that means the same as anti-Semitism but is applicable to Zionist behavior. Not even the world's silence in the face of the Israel's turning of Gaza into a modern version of the Warsaw ghetto is really new. For the world's governments have been essentially silent for 60 years. What turns out to be the new aspect of this tale is the collusion of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority in this aggression toward the Palestinians of Gaza. It would seem that Fatah's leadership has actually decided to ally with the enemy that seeks to ethnically cleanse them. They remind this writer of the Jews who served the Nazis as policemen in the ghettos of German controlled Europe during World War II. Their reward was that they would be the last to be exterminated. The behavior of Fatah means that this organization and its leaders are almost certainly doomed. Unlike Hamas, they will not be able to rebuild. Their reputation, after it becomes known that they cooperated with Isreal in the assault against Gaza, will be unredeemable. If there is ever another election in Palestine they will not be able to seriously participate. They can now exert authority only as adjuncts of the Israel's colonial army. In essense, they have abandoned the Palestinian people and tied their fates irreparable to that of Israel. Lawrence Davidson is a Professor of History at West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
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